Let me explain.
Today we went to the gym like normal, perhaps a little bit later in the day than we had originally planned. Upon leaving the gym on 38th St, we decided to head over to the holiday market in Bryant Park looking for fun gifts and whatnot. So we leave the gym and head towards Broadway.
Once at the intersection, we waited for the light to change and to get the solid white light of the pedestrian to know that we had the right of way to cross the street. We got the light and began heading into the street when out of nowhere, a fedex truck comes flying around the corner and nearly hits us both, actually hitting Matt's hand.
We both jumped back to the sidewalk in shock. I mean, we live in NYC, it's not uncommon to have cars almost hit you, but this was WAY closer than it's ever been for either one of us. I mean, my life flashed before my eyes and that truck wasn't as close to me as it was Matt. I even found myself trying to pull him back from the street, even though his instincts were quicker than mine and he was already back on the curb.
Then Matt took off down the street yelling at the driver, who was stopped at the next light. I followed suit and screamed just as loud as Matt. It was like I was outside of my body watching myself scream at the prick who had almost drastically changed my life. The driver got out of the car and while he tried to calm things down so he wouldn't get into trouble by saying that he "honked his horn as he made the turn" (that never happened, btw, there was no horn honking for once in the history of NYC driving) I took a photo of his license plate with my phone. Thank GOD for technology.
I even recall getting in the mans face and yelling, "see that plate? that number is going to the police. Say goodbye to your job!" yes, this might all sound extreme, but I have to ask you, what would you do in my situation to someone who may have killed your partner. And while I hate that word, it makes the most sense to use it right now. Because if you're married, that person is, in fact, your partner. And that person, Matt, is my partner. We've been through too much good and bad not to be considered as such and this man just about drove over all of my own personal dreams. I was PISSED!
So, leaving the scene of a scared man, Matt and I still shaking, I dialed the number to FedEX to make a formal complaint before I called the police (i ended up not calling the police because of the phone call I made to fedex). I received a polite young lady on the phone who audibly gasped when I told her what had happened. She immediately tried to apologize and console me by telling me that she completely understood my anger and assured me that this would all be dealt with. She had to fill out a formal complaint, which would be sent to the station in which he worked, and then took all of my information in which to follow up, and also assured me that this man would be immediately suspended, if not removed from their employment.
That's when I started feeling bad. I didn't want the guy to lose his job. I didn't want to be the cause of someone getting fired around the holidays. But, then I hung up the phone, still shaking from the ordeal and it hit me; Matt could have died. He could have been lying in the street under a FedEx truck and then what? A thought that I shudder to even think about.
At that moment, I knew I did the right thing by calling. And if I had it to do all over again, I'd still chose to call. In the moments after I hung up the phone, it hit me hard at how close Matt came to getting hit by a truck. My world would be over. Even now as I think of it, it's difficult to hold back tears and be sad, but as sad as that thought makes me, I'm equally grateful that he is fine.
And maybe I should have called the police, but I"m happy with what I did today. It's unusual of me to stand up for anything, but it came so easily to me today that I know what I did was right, and luckily Matt is ok. :)
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